As a patent attorney, I’m often asked for advice from start-ups about what intellectual property (IP) - which can cover anything from products to software to designs or recipes, depending on the business - they should be protecting, if any.

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It’s inevitable that entrepreneurs may sometimes put IP on the back burner while they’re focusing on getting their businesses off the ground. But IP should be one of the issues at the top of the agenda for any start-up.

The response to that statement could be: “Well, as an IP attorney, you would say that”, but there are lots of valid reasons for protecting business assets, and plenty of pitfalls for failing to do so.

Some young companies might dismiss IP as too expensive and think that it’s not worth bothering about if they come up against multinationals.

Others might be involved in a sector without a lot of innovation, so they don’t see such protection as necessary. But IP should be seen as integral to the whole business and there are three key questions that should be asked on the start-up road trip.

Where is my business going?

This covers sectors; plans and strategies; goals and business models. It’s vital to have clear goals for a young business from the outset.

How am I planning to get to my business destination?

This includes the assets that are of value to the business, such as technology, brand, client database and a multitude of other things.

How am I going to control use of my assets?

This is to prevent unauthorised use of assets by third parties to avoid such issues as copying or stealing. A business should also be clear about who it will allow to use its assets, for example giving authorisation to partners, licensees and franchisees.

Once a business has answered these questions, the next stage is to pick the correct IP tool for the job. IP should not be seen as a secret sauce, but a set of tools, each with a function, that works for a specific type of asset and business.

There are four main types of IP tool to consider and decide which one is right for a specific business.

Firstly, there are patents that protect functional assets that ‘do something’.

One well-known example is the original Google ‘page rank’ patent which covers the original algorithm that the company uses to rank websites. This was patented by the US Patent Office in 2001.

Secondly, trade marks protect indications of origin, or brands, such as the globally recognised Nike swoosh. Thirdly, design rights reflect the unique appearance of objects, such as shape – an example of this is the shape of an Apple iPhone. The final IP tool is copyright that protects anything that has been physically expressed, such as a musical score or source code.

Once a start-up has identified the relevant IP tools, they can then put them to use to assist the growth of their business in various ways. Patents, for instance, can be used to attract funding as potential investors will often check whether a company has taken steps to protect their IP. They can also be used to benefit tax relief, license a product or service to others and to reach partnership or co-operation agreements.

At Lawrie IP, we’ve recently produced our own beer , Lawrie IPA, which provides a perfect example of IP in action. If anyone is thinking of starting a brewery – and there are a growing number of craft beer producers springing up across the country – there are various forms of IP to apply. Although beer is far from new, it should still be protected.

Design rights can cover such aspects as shape of the beer bottle and its top; patents can be applied to everything from the make-up of the glass to the way the beer is manufactured; trade marks can be applied to the logo and how the beer smells, for example, and copyright is relevant to the appearance of the label and typeface used.